Saudi Arabia loses oil market share to Nigeria and Angola, others

Saudi Arabia lost market share in more than half of the most important countries it sold crude to in the past three years, even as the kingdom increased output to record levels.

The world’s biggest oil exporter lost ground to rivals in nine out of 15 top markets between 2013 and 2015, including China, South Africa and the US. Saudi Arabia’s share of South African imports dropped sharply during this period, from almost 53 per cent to 22 per cent, as Nigeria and Angola increased their shipments.

Over the three years Saudi Arabia also lost ground in South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and several western European countries. However, Saudi Arabia remains the largest oil supplier to many countries including China, however, and it secured crude market share gains in Brazil, India and Japan between 2013 and 2015.

Saudi Arabia set itself a goal in late 2014 of maintaining its crude market share amid a glut that prompted a collapse in oil prices, but the imports data compiled by FGE, an energy consultancy, suggest the country’s strategy suffered setbacks in some of its key customer countries last year.

Other data show that Saudi Arabia achieved a limited increase in global market share in 2015 compared to 2014, although last year’s figure was lower than that recorded in 2013.

Saudi Aramco, the state-controlled energy company that is implementing the oil ministry’s strategy, has raised production to more than 10m barrels a day since the OPEC meeting. Saudi exports have held above 7m b/d.

Since late 2014, Saudi officials have repeatedly made the case for maintaining crude market share and sacrificing short-term oil revenue, saying the kingdom would not subsidise higher cost rivals, including US shale operators, by reducing production.

Meanwhile, the US shale oil boom reduced the country’s need to buy crude from overseas. Saudi Arabia’s share of US imports fell from 17 per cent to almost 14 per cent between 2013 and 2015.

Saudi Arabia increased its global market share marginally last year, according to calculations based on figures from Jodi, an oil database backed by OPEC, and the International Energy Agency, an energy statistics body.

Saudi crude exports represented 8.1 per cent of global oil demand, excluding the kingdom’s own needs, in 2015, compared to 7.9 per cent in 2014. The equivalent figure for 2013 was 8.5 per cent.

The intensity of the battle over market share is highlighted by how Saudi Arabia is now confronting Russia in its own backyard.